StyleTap Released for Symbian S60

After a long private beta, the StyleTap platform is now available for Symbian powered S60 devices. StyleTap allows users to run many of the tens of thousands of Palm OS applications on current Nokia and Symbian powered phones.

The Symbian version supports all Nokia smartphones running S60 3rd Edition, Sony-Ericsson devices running UIQ 3.0, and the new Nokia touch UI devices running S60 5th Edition. It includes support for hardware features such as screen rotation and the optical joystick on the Samsung i8510 smartphone, and introduces a new screen rendering capability that significantly improves the readability of the screen on QVGA (240x320) devices.

StyleTap Symbian s60"With this support for Symbian devices, StyleTap-compatible applications now run on millions more mobile devices than applications for any other mobile platform," said Gregory Sokoloff, president of StyleTap, "which gives mobile device users more flexibility in their hardware choices, and offers mobile application developers the largest potential market for their applications with no additional development work required."

StyleTap Platform for Symbian OS is the newest member of the StyleTap Platform family, which includes StyleTap Platform for Windows Mobile. The preview edition is a public extension of the beta testing process undertaken for StyleTap Platform for Symbian OS over the last year. Interested users and developers can download a free 14-day trial, and can purchase StyleTap Platform for Symbian OS at the preview price of US$49.95.

(Via Symbian-Guru & MobilityBeat)

Article Comments

 (28 comments)

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PalmInfocenter is not responsible for them in any way.
Please Login or register here to add your comments.

Start a new Comment Down

Let's get 2 Things Squared Away

LiveFaith @ 1/16/2009 12:02:34 PM # Q
First. This could be the final nail in Palm's coffin. Haaaah.

Second. When will this be available a certain unnamed new OS?

I knew nobody else would be thinking this way. :-D

Pat Horne

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
Ryan @ 1/16/2009 12:08:48 PM # Q
Looks like they just put up a blog post on the Pre question...

http://blogs.styletap.com/styletap/2009/01/styletap-for-palm-pre.html

In short, it doesn't look like it would be possible with just the web stuff at this point, so it all depends on how much Palm lets developers get under that layer and do more native linux/c code.

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
Tuckermaclain @ 1/16/2009 12:25:53 PM # Q
If the Pre doesn't ever get styletap I would be more inclined to get a Symbian phone than the Pre or a Treo. Having said that, I'd bet that we will see styletap for the Pre. The market is huge. It would be good for Palm (not that that ever infuenced them in the past). Remember, Palm said that there was no way hacks would work in OS5.

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
mikecane @ 1/16/2009 12:31:25 PM # Q
>>>First. This could be the final nail in Palm's coffin. Haaaah.

Yeah, right. People who buy SymbianOS phones are either mentally deranged or into self-abuse (hmmm... I just repeated myself there, no?). They'd NEVER want PalmOS on their phones. Why spoil the zeitgeist of FAIL Symbian gives them?

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
Tuckermaclain @ 1/16/2009 12:39:31 PM # Q
Just looked at the styletap website. Thay anticipate a version for the i-phone. Skyscape apps are now available in "i-phone." Epocrates runs on the it as well. If legacy capability never materializes for the Pre I have a great option to my T2 and Razr and will happily say bye-bye to the new Palm! Most exciting Palm news I've felt since the m505!

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
palmato @ 1/16/2009 1:41:22 PM # Q
If Palm is talking to Adobe for flash (big if), maybe they might be willing to talk to Styletap too and provide them the tools (native cross compilation and linking) needed to build a webos version.
Otherwise they'll have to wait.

(Dataviz is in a similar situation: moving their office suite code to a google docs alike application might be very expensive)

-------------
Hey Admin: Why do we have to keep two profiles?

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
Tuckermaclain @ 1/16/2009 2:22:05 PM # Q
It's a wierd thing. If Palm doesn't support StyleTap then those of us who use Palm Pilots and want a premium device can soon migrate to the i-phone. I would find it really strange that Palm would want to abandon all of it's current PalmOS customers. It would make sense to make Pre buyers out every Treo and TX owner out there. Anyway, I would buy a Pre if Styletap were available. If Palm doesn't want to, I can soon buy an i-phone and avoid ever being a Palm beta tester again. At this point, only MY loyalty to Palm would drive me to buy a Pre. Once I use the other platform I would never return. I wonder how many others there are like me?

I suppose in the big picture Palm could care less about me and the other Palm OS users-and that's OK with me now that there's a great alternative. I'm going to have a great phone that runs my Palm apps either way in 2009.

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
hotpaw4 @ 1/16/2009 9:15:31 PM # Q
Why would a user of lots of legacy PalmOS apps migrate to an iPhone, instead of to some platform which supports StyleTap?

.

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
Piero @ 1/16/2009 10:18:08 PM # Q
I think my attention will now shift towards symbian phones..... are they any good, anybody know?, with wi-fi?

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
LiveFaith @ 1/17/2009 6:22:43 AM # Q
HotPaw, Styletap announced a version for the iPhone a while back. That has a lot of Palm users thinking about jumping to killer hardware and system software without leaving all that legacy behind.

Pat Horne
RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
Piero @ 1/17/2009 9:22:57 AM # Q
So........ styletap in i-phone still in development? Any release dates?

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
mikecane @ 1/17/2009 10:38:34 AM # Q
>>>I think my attention will now shift towards symbian phones..... are they any good, anybody know?, with wi-fi?

Man, stay AWAY from Symbian. It's nothing but a container of PAIN!

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
Piero @ 1/17/2009 11:04:06 AM # Q
why..... if i can use a phone and palmos rather thn symbian in it? why would it be pain?

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
Tuckermaclain @ 1/17/2009 11:44:12 AM # Q
So........ styletap in i-phone still in development? Any release dates?

Not that I heard. It was "in development" on their news blog. StyleTap should have a good market for it though-the whole PalmOS realm.

Why is this important to me? I'm an OB/GYN. Their are lots of apps that have been made for Palm that allow me to not carry little booklets and tools around in my pocket. Pregnancy calculators, drug books, ICU calculators so I can take care of patients on ventilators. You wouldn't expect an OBGYN to take care of ICU patients but I've been deployed to places in the military where I've had to. My Palm is my single most important asset in these situations. On a day-to-day basis I depend most on Agendus and the icon capable month view to see at a glance what hospital I'm on call in and where I'm working. It is my de-facto secretary. I have become so used to it that even if I had the great new Pre I'd still carry my T2 around due to all the books/tools I have on it. It's a work device for me. I'd have to go back to carrying lots of little books around in my pockets if I bailed on Palm OS.

Now, I can have an i-phone or symbian (whatever that OS is) and have a good phone with great internet access. When StyleTap is released I can use all my valuable little tools. Skyscape software (5 Minute Clinical Consult, Maternal/Fetal Medicine COnsult, Johns Hopkins OB/GYN) could be run through Styletap AND they are now written for the iphone itself. Epocrates drug pharmacopeia is as well. Very handy when a patient calls at night and they want a med to treat their yeast infection but their on anti-hypertensives and an anti-epilepsy drug. I can dose it and check for interactions right there. Or Mrs Smith might call and say I operated on her in 2002 and has a question about a new symptom. I can just look her up in the memo pad and see what I did, when I did it, what the blood loss was, etc.

I can start a PAINLESS transition to whatever OS I want and still keep what's valuable to me. I would love to use something more capable than the Razr and T2 but I need my Palm OS software to run on something. The i-phone would be absolutely incredible. If Palm doesn't want to make an emulator that's fine. Palm doesn't want to develop the Palm OS any longer and that's fine too, as I now have a good workaround. If the Pre has an emulator then I will buy it because I am a Palm loyalist. I have stuck with them through thick and thin. Now, PalmOS appears to be going the way of the Newton. The Pre will have a good Facebook app though. (sigh)

To me, the Pre is not Palm if it doesn't run legacy apps.

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
mikecane @ 1/17/2009 12:08:02 PM # Q
Ryan or one of his lackeys should have been collecting posts like yours to compile for an article to show Palm WHY an emulator is URGENT for the Pre.

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
Piero @ 1/17/2009 12:32:19 PM # Q
And i'm a radiologist....let's just say if i didn't use my palm i'd be carrying more than a dozen books and not get the info as quick.... WITH IMAGES!

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
twrock @ 1/17/2009 4:02:58 PM # Q
From StyleTap (because some of us are too lazy to actually go and read it there):
The good news is that we are actively continuing to develop a version of StyleTap CrossPlatform for the iPhone and iPod Touch. However, the SDK issue means that as it currently stands, the initial beta versions of StyleTap for the iPhone will be usable only on iPhones and iPod Touch devices that have had software modifications (a process known as "jailbreaking") allowing non-App Store applications to be installed. (Here our lawyer made us say: "This is provided for information only. StyleTap is not recommending, requesting or encouraging you to make any unauthorized modifications to your device. There are warranty, upgrade and usability issues with 'jailbroken' devices that you need to understand before you choose that approach.")

When will StyleTap for iPhone be available? Contrary to some erroneous posts to that effect on some blogs, we did not announce plans to release an iPhone version in July – we promised an update (which you're reading). We have not announced a release date for an iPhone version. We can assure you that we are actively working on it and that you'll be the first to know when we are ready to begin a beta program.


So if I had to venture an opinion, you'll be able to get StyleTap for the iPhone, but you will have to jailbreak it to put it on there. I'm having a hard time believing Apple is going to approve this one for sale through the Apple App Store. But I'd be happy if they did. (I prefer choices vs. just one good option.)


"twrock is infamous around these parts"
(from my profile over at Brighthand due to my negative 62 rep points rating)
RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
mikecane @ 1/17/2009 4:10:45 PM # Q
Apps for jailbusted Phone and Pods don't have to come from the App Store. That's rather the entire point. The broken units have a special installer.

StyleTap could announce it as a Technology Preview and disclaim any support and specifically mention it would not address the announcement further. (Of course, that wouldn't stop the eejits emailing them with "How do I install this on my ...?" So there's *that* bag of crap to dis-motivate them.)

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
twrock @ 1/17/2009 4:22:09 PM # Q
Apps for jailbusted Phone and Pods don't have to come from the App Store. That's rather the entire point.

Yep, I understood that point. Maybe the way I put it didn't come across that way, but yes, that's how I understand it.


"twrock is infamous around these parts"
(from my profile over at Brighthand due to my negative 62 rep points rating)
RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
NuShrike @ 1/17/2009 4:38:14 PM # Q
Until StyleTap gets conduits working, it's still not a very useful emulator. I'm still waiting for full emulated support for 320x480, >= 16-bit color, and using the full-resolution of the host machine which could be VGA besides QVGA.

Palm III -> Sony NR610C -> Sony NR70 -> Sony NX80 -> Palm T|X -> HTC Kaiser -> HTC Fuze
RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
mikecane @ 1/17/2009 4:49:27 PM # Q
>>>Yep, I understood that point. Maybe the way I put it didn't come across that way, but yes, that's how I understand it.

Well OK then.

But how can you be interested in a Pre when you carped about not being able to use an iPhone with gloved hands? Seems to me the Pre keyboard might prevent gloved hand use too. Maybe they'll make a special one with a heated keyboard! ROTF...

RE: Let's get 2 Things Squared Away
twrock @ 1/17/2009 9:47:06 PM # Q
How can I be interested in the Pre? Why not? I've been "interested" in the iPhone, the iPod Touch, the Nokia N810 and a few other devices as possible replacements for my TX when it dies/no longer provides the functionality I need. Interest doesn't equate to a desire to buy.

The only handheld I purchased immediately on availability was the TX. But since it wasn't available here until a month after its launch elsewhere, I guess I can say that I even considered that one for a good amount of time before deciding it was the device I wanted. I very well might conclude the Pre sucks because it can't be operated with a glove on. But similar to the iPhone, it will likely be a whole combination of factors that eventual cause me to dismiss it as a device for me.

Besides, I've already decided that after I buy the Pre, I'll cut the tips off of the right index finger of every pair of gloves I own. My momma didn't raise any dumbies.


"twrock is infamous around these parts"
(from my profile over at Brighthand due to my negative 62 rep points rating)

Reply to this comment

Pre processor

Piero @ 1/17/2009 12:40:17 PM # Q
I've heard the pre processor is very advanced,but how many Mhz can it reach? how much caché? anbody know?

RE: Pre processor
Ryan @ 1/17/2009 12:47:26 PM # Q
RE: Pre processor
mikecane @ 1/17/2009 12:54:44 PM # Q
And it's important to note that just because a CPU can *do* a certain clock speed doesn't mean it *will* on the Pre. Netbook makers *underclocked* their CPUs in order to extend battery life. The same thing might happen with the Pre - one of the other reasons why they wouldn't mention battery run-times.

RE: Pre processor
Piero @ 1/17/2009 1:04:11 PM # Q
yep, i thought that too..... but nowadays any processor might reach a better speed than my tx. Hehe!.... even underclocked..... as the tx is.

RE: Pre processor
Tuckermaclain @ 1/17/2009 2:04:33 PM # Q
If it runs as fast as the TX I would have no problems at all. I don't know if another OS requires more horsepower though.

Reply to this comment

sigh

Scud @ 1/18/2009 5:47:11 AM # Q
not really usable on Nokia E71 - "launcher" hangs when trying to switch between applications
Reply to this comment
Start a New Comment Thread Top

Account

Register Register | Login Log in
user:
pass: